//------------------------------//
// How can you understand, you born of a different land. 
// Story: A Homeland's Curse. A Zebra's Remorse. 
// by Taco Belle 
//------------------------------//


"How can you Understand, you born of a different land?"






~~~~~


Rarely used is quite the understatement for these Room.

In fact, when Twilight was first exploring her castle she spent a few hours considering exactly WHY she had a dungeon... or why the Tree of Harmony, of all things, would give her one.

Not that it was a particularly dank or dreary one being in much the same style as the rest of the palace, or even all too uncomfortable and Rarity did a good job with all the curtains and what not to make it seem more like more pleasant... Twilight prefers to refer to it as "holding rooms" rather then a "dungeon".

Now tho, the Princess of Friendship is grateful she did not just have the Bars removed and made into a backup library, as her eyes looked sadly at the unconscious, somewhat withered zebra mare  laying on the warm carpeted dungeon floor, which was now stained with some blood. Twilight deeply wished she did not watch it, on hindsight... but it was her only idea to snap Zecora out of her frenzy after three days of racking her mind for a less graphic solution, but despite her brilliant mind, she came down with nothing to sooth the Zebra's hungry wrath besides... give her what she wants.

It was the liver from a organ donor, a Stallion who passed recently of natural causes, that Twilight was allowing the regions medical facilities store in stasis in her palace due to her extreme excess of unused space(Another reason she did not convert the dungeon into a library, there was already a Ballroom she could use!), and tho the entire idea, and the morbid event that happened when she levitated it into the Cell, left her feeling completely sickened, it was clearly working.

She became lethargic as soon as she finished, and ultimately collapsed onto the floor, where she has since regained some moisture to her withered visage... But truth be told, it was Fluttershy's idea. She insisted that 'just a little taste' was likely to snap her back to consciousness, relating Zecora's savage, starved behavior to her own... since that Incident she ceased to be fully Pony herself.

Fluttershy is with Twilight, of course, sitting next to her in front of the cell, notably less sickened by the predatory pony, most likely due to her being much more closely tied to the natural circle of life then Twilight, what with caring for all sorts of carnivores and all... but to Twilight, a Pony liver being consumed by a rabid Pony does not equate to a bear eating a fish or a bird eating worms.

And then the still, corpse-like Zebra sits up slowly onto her rear, eyes closed with tears welling in the corners of her eyes and her flesh becoming less decrepit by the second and seeming to struggle with opening her lips to speak... at least until she does, and to say the two mares present were not ready for what they heard was a understatement.

"Who did i consume the flesh from? Are they alive... or did i take another life, in my starved madness...?" she says, voice on the verge of tears, eyes remaining closed as her dusty, impure tears drip onto the floor, possibly her first real tears in quite some time... But none of what she said really sunk in at first, but they were rather focused on something rather less important, but much more shocking to them.

She didn't Rhyme.

Sensing their silence from the thick quiet around them, Zecora opened her eyes, glistening wet, yellow tinted eyes... her Iris's were a deep, bright, softly glowing yellow. Her deep sorrow softened only slightly, as she saw the concerned, confused faces of her two former friends, rather then disgust, outrage, or hatred... but she dared not to hope things would be alright.

"Zecora..." Twilight finally speaks, casting the damnable silence to Tartarus to become Tirek's new roommate. "The...Sample, was a from a colt that Donated their body to... R-research and medicine, and we had a..." she pauses, turning a little green "Surplus of that particular element...".

Zecora's face softened with relief,  her shoulders slacking as she lowers her head, and letting some Grief flow off of her body."and Rainbow Dash? Last i remember..." she says, managing a soft smile, realizing their confusion and extending her sentence to bring them some peace "...was our Clash."

"S-She is at the hospital with several m-minor lacerations, a sprained wind a-and... alot of Bruising." the yellow pegasus spoke up, smiling softly as she stands and approaches the Bars, containing the dangerous mare, with far more bravery then she has shown in the past."Dash will make a full Recovery... I'm much more concerned with your well being Z-Zecora... Why did you never tell us about your Illness... we could of helped!"

Twilight looked gently at the kind mare with a soft smile, calling back to how Fluttershy has checked on Zecora multiple times every day just to make sure she was okay and hoping she got better, clearly seeing a good deal of her own struggles within the zebra's suffering... Zecora on the other hoof, just stared at her in disbelief of her words, before smiling herself and wiping the dusty, tar-like tears from her face...

"I Don't... know what to say, Fluttershy... besides the obvious... why?" she says, her eyes faintly beginning to return to their natural color, as her body has since returned to the state they've always known her."Because... uh..." she says, caught off guard by the question as it should be obvious."You are our friend... all of t-this has been a Misunderstanding... you have been suffering in silence for who-knows how long!".

Twilight clears her voice, joining the support."Dash and Scootaloo are going to make full recoveries... Scootaloo actually came too by the time we returned to Fluttershy's cabin, and holds no ill feelings... tho Dash... might hold a grudge for now, but i have a feeling she will get over it..." she says, standing and following Fluttershy's example and coming closer to the cell, albeit notably not quite as close."Zecora... What happened? What caused this, and how long...?" she says, returning to her rump, and levitating a quill and parchment from out of Zecora's view.

Zecora sighs, standing and giving a rather audible stretch, as all of her joints click, clack, and unlock loudly as if she had laid still for weeks, and her body was unable to dampen the sound, her teeth briefly flashing sharp and deadly for less then a second, as she regains comfort in movement.

Twilight subtly scoots back a little and turns slightly green, despite her friendly, concerned expression not fading at all. Fluttershy stood firm, giving her alicorn friend a slight, disapproving glance.

"I have been like this for..." she says, pausing and looking up, mentally counting in her head, and notably without a rhyme."...at least 300 years. Since before i came to the Everfree... or even Equestria as a whole." She sits back down, in a more relaxed tone... They have said they are going to give her a chance, a chance for her new life alongside Ponyville to not end, and she knows these mares well enough to know they would not cruely deceive her for some reason... specifically these two, as well, the Princess of Friendship and the Element of Kindness.

Taking a moment to giggle at their expressions in regards to her age."It is a... Curse, incurable i am afraid, cast apon me and... a few whom no longer walk the lands of the living, for a Transgression we committed... Trespassing."

"...Tresspassing? Really?" Twilight says, a look of bemused disbelief on her face."Isn't that sort of a disproportionate punishment...?"

Zecora just smiled a familiar, comfortable smile." We Trespassed on a ancient Zebrican King's tomb in search of ancient, forgotten knowledge... Zithar the Cruel's Tomb, to be specific- No I will not tell you where it is." she says, suddenly changing her tone as Twilight's eyes light up at the discovery of the lost tomb of a ancient, foreign king."We broke the seals of rest keeping the door shut... tho i was there for knowledge... my tribe brothers were there for the wealth Zithar was buried with... the wealth of his conquests across our lands in a olden age... all was well, then we turned the page..." she says, looking away from them and up to the small, barred window leading outside. It was Sundown. "We returned to our camp, with out secrets and treasures, where my brothers had some Buyers waiting to appraise and purchase their... spoils." she pauses looking down at her hooves."We Celebrated our victory, certain the Curses spoken of in secret were superstitious falsehoods... then Celestia's Sun ceased to shine in our lands for the night, and... The rest of the Night is a bloody, horrible, painful memory..." She stops, noting her listeners green expressions, even as Twilight keeps scribbling away at her notebook.

"After that... we tried to return what we stole, but it was no use... no shaman or traveling wizard could help us after what we have so thoroughly become... and the Hunger... the Tartarus-damned hunger... at first we all three resisted... but then we started to slip...'just one traveler no one would miss, it will keep us from going on a maddened hunt again, and hurting more innocents'... by this point of course..." she says, with a deep sigh as her fore-hoof covers her eyes in shame." We were exiled by our tribe forevermore for what we have become, and all we had left to lose was our... unlives... and for reasons i am still not sure of, we pushed to live on, despite our deaths being the clearest solution..."

"You..." Twilight began reluctantly.."Did not intentionally HURT anypony... did you?"

Zecora looks from her, to Fluttershy's large concerned eyes... then towards the floor, her face becoming a deeply shamed scowl directed apon her own actions...

"It... seemed a better option... then starving ourselves until we became the savage, starved beast you witnessed. That way, only one Pony needed to Parish...." Zecora replied, her voice soft and low, her dark tears starting to pull in the corners of her eyes, but fail to actually flow...

"Did.... you try Non-Pony flesh?" Twilight asks, causing Fluttershy, the animal lover that she is, to flinch."It was Sickening, and barely effective... but i did eventually force myself to only consume it... My tribal brothers... came to adore what they became... the strength, the power, the... Immortality it provided... They began to see it as a gift, albeit one that was two-sided." she says, lowering her head and closing her eyes..." I lured them with Promises of a camp of victims, lightly armed.... and cast them to the flames in hopes it would purify their souls as it did their warped bodies... and save them from what we were becoming..." Zecora Looked up suddenly, as the metal sound of a Lock coming Undone, Bars sliding, and a pegasus wrapping her hooves around her neck... Zecora for a moment feared she had crossed some line, and their sympathy had come to an end... but instead, a soft muzzle rubs against her cheek, despite the small amount blood from her crazed feast, and softly speaks with a warm "There there..."

Twilight just stared with a soft smiling, screaming internally at Fluttershy. Of course she wanted to trust Zecora, to give her the benefit of a doubt, but that was just outright risking all three of their well-being!

Zecora chuckled softly, briefly returning the hug, before they both released the other, and sat facing one another as twilight scooted closer to the now open cell door, silently preparing her magic to blink Fluttershy out of the cell and close it quickly, as Zecora inhaled to continue.

"As i said... I guess i had more self-discipline then the other two...  I swore off the flesh of Ponies and other sentient beings for good... I... must admit I..." she says, her voice cracking, as painful memories cross her mind."Have slipped... situations beyond my control keeping from my... reserves of dried flesh... Such as when the tribes united, and came hunting for the "Three Cursed Ones", driving me from my Homeland of Zebrica.... Since then for around 300 years... i searched for a place i can live quietly... and in that time i developed my... well... a Meditative Practice i developed to keep my Mind focused... to keep the Hunger from getting a firm grip on my mind, even if i went weeks without feeding.."

Twilight sit up, wings spreading slightly."The Rhyming!" she says in her excitable nerd ways."You focus your Mind and Subconscious into working on Wordplay with every sentence so it does not Linger on the.... Hunger..." With the cell door open, she is now well aware of the lack of Rhymes most of this time...

"Liver... has always been...well.." she says, rubbing her hoof through her Mane, which does not lose its form, easily snapping back into a mohawk." the most thoroughly... vitalizing part of.... I do not recall my...meal... but i recognize the rush it gives me... you were.... fortunate to choose that portion." she says, finding this as awkward as it was shameful, as both mares turn green and comically shift away from her slightly, Fluttershy remaining within the cell."But I feel more... calm, in control... then i have since i arrived in near Ponyville when it was just a small village... Since i last... slipped."

"I... Know the feeling..." Fluttershy says,  raising a hoof and looking at it for a moment before putting it down..."I doupt that, dear Fluttershy..." Zecora says with a pause, and nudged her shoulder with a pause and a giggle."But may i ask... why?" she finishes, noting the very slight panic in Twilights eyes about the sudden return of her 'dont eat ponies' tactic... before Twilight realizes she was just trying to be fully... Twilight snorts Disapprovingly.

"I... Apple Bloom told you about the Vampire Fruit Bat Incident right..." Fluttershy says, looking up at Zecora's eyes, now exactly as she remembered them from their countless meetings in the past.... as Zecora puts her own black hoof to her mouth, her turn to be concerned..."You... Poor dear... you... never fully turned back.... did you...?" Fluttershy replies with a silent nod, and a soft voice as twilight looks away, as Fluttershy begins speaking of her biggest Buck Up of her life...

"For... a while i thought i was fine... craving apples more then normal... then... Pinkie was holding a Apple in my face, making a Vampony joke... and as we were all laughing... Applejack saw a Fang, i-in my mouth." she explains looking at a remorseful Twilight."We... at first thought it was residual... that it would g-go away soon, and within a hour it did...b-but.. over the following weeks... whenever i came near apples, i was..." raises her hooves to look at them as tears began to leak down her cute yellow cheeks..."It was like i was Starving, even if i just ate... i tried to avoid them... it... seemed to work but th-then i just... snapped... went into a... Frenzy... like y-you.... I..." she looks at Zecora, eyes soaking her face as her hooves return to the carpeted dungeon floor."I'm J-Just lucky my thirst is not as... violent as yours..." she sobs out, as its time for Zecora, heart melting at the presence of a pony that knows her pain, at least to an extent, to give her a warm, understanding hug..."It is alright... they are of different degree's, yes... but i believe you know the pangs of the hunger i feel... How... did you learn to Control it?" Zecora asks, Twilight watching silently as her quill scribbles across the notebooks pages.

Ending the Hug, Fluttershy smiles softly."Starting to remember the woods...?" She asks."A Little... you assured me i ended no life... so i am risking forcing a recollection... I do not like remembering my madness..." Fluttershy stands, and gives a small stretch. "Lets get out of this Cell... I'll tell you all About it..." she speaks hopefully, as she leads to Zebra to the cells Exit as Twilight screams internally once more at Fluttershy just letting the mare prone to turning into a viscous carnivore out of the only cages in Ponyville... but she relents, putting her notes away and standing and speaking to the two."It really is not much of a Story, Fluttershy and i just played my favorite game for two Weeks: Trial and Error".


~~~~~